Main Cast: Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney, Paul Lukas, Guy Kibbee
Release Year: 1931
Country: US
Run Time: 82 minutes
Plot
Never one to hide his talent under a bushel basket, director Rouben Mamoulien proudly proclaimed that, while there were ten killings in his 1931 gangster drama City Streets, the audience never sees any of them. This was not the only innovation in this fascinating early talkie, in which straight-arrow movie hero Gary Cooper is cast as a racketeer known only as The Kid. He has chosen a life of crime out of love for Nan (Sylvia Sidney), the daughter of mob henchman Pop Cooley (Guy Kibbee). Eventually railroaded into prison by her crooked cohorts, Nan implores The Kid to give up the rackets, but he refuses. Things go downhill very rapidly after that, culminating with The Kid and Nan being taken "for a ride" by rival thugs. Cast in a role originally intended for Clara Bow, Sylvia Sidney does a magnificent job and was soon typecast as a downtrodden Depression victim, born with two strikes against her. Conversely, Gary Cooper never again played anything quite like "The Kid." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Rouben Mamoulian - Director, Viola Lawrence - Editor, William Shea - Editor, Sidney B. Cutner - Composer (Music Score), Lee Garmes - Cinematographer, E. Lloyd Sheldon - Producer, Jack A. Goodrich - Sound/Sound Designer, Oliver H.P. Garrett - Screenwriter, Max Marcin - Screenwriter
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Nan Cooley, the daughter of racketeer Pop Cooley, is in love with The Kid, a shooting gallery showman. She tries to urge him to join the gang, in order to earn enough money to support her in the lifestyle she is accustomed to, but he refuses. Soon her father kills bootlegging chief Blackie, at the urging of Big Fella Maskal, because Blackie was against Maskal's involvement with Blackie's gun moll Aggie. After Pop shoots Blackie, he passes the gun to his step-daughter Nan, thus implicating her in the murder. She naïvely takes the rap for her father, believing the mob will arrange for her acquittal, and is sent to prison. Pop Cooley then tries to convince The Kid to join the gang in order to free Nan, and he does so out of love for her. However, Nan's attitude had changed when she was railroaded to prison. When The Kid visits Nan in in prison in a fur coat, she becomes terrified of his involvement with Pop's gang after witnessing a fellow inmate's mobster boyfriend being gunned down outside the prison gate the day the girl was to go home to him. When Nan is released, having served her term, she wants nothing more to do with the mob. She tries to persuade The Kid to quit the gang, but he refuses. Things go downhill from there. She finds that her father is unrepentant and involved with a loose, gold-digging woman named Pansy. Maskal soon takes a strong liking to Nan and throws her a homecoming party, forcing her to dance with him all evening. When The Kid finally asserts his claim over Nan, Maskal threatens him, then later sends his thugs to kill him, but The Kid successfully disarms them, then goes after Maskal. Terrified her lover will be killed, Nan goes to Maskal to warn him and offers herself to him in exchange for The Kid's life. Aggie, now Maskal's mistress, shoots him with Nan's gun after he leaves her for Nan, and Nan is accused of murder. The Kid then names himself mob chief and escapes with Nan in a car with three of Maskal's men, who aim to kill him. Thus events culminate in The Kid and Nan being taken "for a ride" by rival thugs. By racing a train and maintaining high speeds, The Kid keeps himself alive until Nan pulls a gun on the men and disarms them. Dropping the thugs off with "no hard feelings," The Kid tells them he has quit the beer business, and he and Nan drive off.
